Word study
Stone
9 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: stone, stones, stoned, stoning. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “stone” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אֶבֶן ebenstonetranslated this way 185 times of its 242 uses · Strong’s H68Noun · Translated: stones 92, stone 86, gemstones 7, weights 5Full study and all 217 verses →
Genesis 11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
Exodus 7:19 And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt— over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs— that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
- סָקַל sâqalstone, put to death by stoningtranslated this way 19 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H5619Verb · Translated: stoned 6, stone 6, surely be stoned 2, threw stones 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Exodus 8:26 But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable before the Egyptians, will they not stone us?
Deuteronomy 13:10 Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- רָגַם râgamstone, kill by stoningtranslated this way 15 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H7275Verb · Translated: stone 7, stoned 6, surely stone 1, stoned him to death 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Leviticus 20:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him.
Numbers 14:10 But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting.
- אֶבֶן ebenstonetranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H69Noun · Translated: stone 6, large stones 1, cut stones 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Ezra 5:8 Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.
Daniel 2:34 As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.
- גָּזִית gâzîtha cutting, hewingtranslated this way 5 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1496Noun · Translated: dressed stone 2, cut 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Exodus 20:25 Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.
1 Kings 6:36 Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
- גְּבוּל gebûlborder, boundary, territorytranslated this way 4 times of its 209 uses · Strong’s H1366Noun · Translated: border 76, territory 55, borders 15, boundary 9Full study and all 185 verses →
Deuteronomy 27:17 ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Proverbs 22:28 Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.
- צוּר tsûrrock, clifftranslated this way 2 times of its 77 uses · Strong’s H6697Noun · Translated: rock 56, rocks 8, flint 2Full study and all 73 verses →
Job 19:24 by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
Job 22:24 and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
- סֶלַע selacrag, clifftranslated this way 2 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H5553Noun · Translated: rock 30, rocks 11, cliffs 5, cliff 3Full study and all 51 verses →
Psalm 78:16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- מַצֵּבָה matstsêbâhpillar, maƒƒ¢b¹ , stumptranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H4676Noun · Translated: sacred pillars 10, pillar 9, sacred pillar 4, pillars 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Exodus 23:24 You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
Exodus 34:13 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
Greek words (New Testament)
- λίθος líthosa stonetranslated this way 51 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s G3037Noun · Translated: stone 36, stones 14, millstone 1, stone's 1Full study and all 53 verses →
Matthew 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
Mark 5:5 Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.
- λιθάζω litházōI stonetranslated this way 9 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G3034Verb · Translated: stone 5, stoned 3, stoning 1Full study and all 9 verses →
John 8:5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”
Acts 5:26 At that point, the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles — but not by force, for fear the people would stone them.
- λιθοβολέω lithoboléōI stone, cast stones attranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G3036Verb · Translated: stoned 2, stones 2, began to stone 1, stoning 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 21:35 But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- λίθινος líthinosmade of stonetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3035Adjective · Translated: stone 3Full study and all 3 verses →
John 2:6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.
2 Corinthians 3:3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.